The skipper winning the most races inevitably is going to be the one with the best touch. I call touch the simultaneous coordination of steering and sail trim with wind and sea conditions. Sailing upwind is really a never-ending series…
Upwind Handling & Performance
Improve your upwind handling and performance. Learn about upwind sail trim, steering, balance, tacking, and sailing in waves.
-
-
Many beginning and intermediate racing sailors could improve their sailing by focusing on the body mechanics of tacking. Good body mechanics will help you tack quickly and smoothly, keep control of the tiller extension, and be ready to hike and…
-
Optimist Tacking Check out this video on Optimist Tacking, narrated by Shirley Robertson, double Olympic gold medalist. The key steps and additional tips are listed below. The related content links provide videos from other sources with additional tips. We’ve updated…
-
Many new sailors ask us what “vang sheeting” means. More experienced sailors understand the term, but may not execute it well. We found a video from the International Sailing Academy (ISA) that illustrates the technique on the water. We highly…
-
[Lull response]: I fought my instinct to bear off, and instead, allowed the jib tales to stall while the boat decelerated over the next few boat lengths. We did ease both the main and jib sheets just a little to…
-
Most tuning guides for centerboard dinghies and scows tell you to raise your board 1-2″ in heavy air. In this post we’ll briefly discuss three reasons why this is important. This post updates our previous post on setting leeboard height…
